


Bruises and cider

by ShadowSelene (Shadowdianne)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 21:38:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17475431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/ShadowSelene
Summary: "The bartender was polishing glasses when the villain asked to buy the customer on the far right a drink.Another one of those crappy, cliché flirting techniques?Sigh. The bartender couldn't judge.'What do you wanna order?' The bartender asked. They recognized the customer-it was the hero, who was a regular here.Amirthless smirk spread across the villain's lips. 'You know what they want. Just tell them it's from me'Asked by emettkaysworld via tumblr





	Bruises and cider

_“You know what they want. Just tell them it’s from me.”_

The bartender sighed and eyed the villain; from the melodramatic mascara to the ruby red lips that had been her signature ever since she had first appeared on television, prepared, of so they had said, to run havoc throughout the city.

A statement that had lasted about ten minutes before the woman seated on the far right had appeared in a cloud of purple with her own eyes screaming bloody murder.

Sucking on her teeth but ready not to show any emotion from an exchange she knew that would put some journalists on their dead bed if they ever sniffed the reality of both villain and hero drinking at the same bar, she nodded curtly as the villain nodded and winked at her, blonde locks bouncing ever so slightly.

That, she thought absentmindedly as she prepared the usual of the hero with practiced movements, had probably been the reason why she hadn’t been recognized in the neighborhood: The Swan usually had her blonde -almost white- tresses up in a hair-do that if anyone wanted Ruby’s opinion, wasn’t exactly flattering. Those green eyes, however, were unmistakable and Ruby herself had spent far too much time gazing at them and developing a small crush to not recognize those or the high cheek bones that accompanied them.

Turning towards the hero and mentally sending a thought to whomever that could be listening so neither of them tried to start a bar fight after she acted like messenger, she walked to her sparing one last glance to the Swan who, still smirking, nodded minutely before pointing at the change she had left on the counter.

Swallowing, Ruby cleared her throat when she reached The Queen’s level. The brunette’s brown eyes had been scanning today’s newspaper with an almost maniac focus and she didn’t even looked up from the page she was immersed in when Ruby placed the cider glass in front of her, hands never trembling -her grandma would kill her if her serving technique was anything but stellar- but nervousness creeping up her neck nonetheless.

However, with her eyes still focused on the newspaper, the Queen spoke with the soft yet deep pitch that was her signature as much as The Swan dramatic flair was. Albeit, Ruby admitted thinking on some of the clothes the woman in front of her had downed at first, both women could admit they had a penchant for the dramatics.

“I still haven’t finished the last one.”

Ruby eyed the Villain from the corner of her eyes; the blonde woman wasn’t close enough for The Queen’s voice to have reached her, not unless super hearing was something she had, and the general public didn’t know that is, but she still was smirking over the rim of her own drink, a daring brow arched.

“No.” She admitted, focusing on the Hero once again, on the way she kept on looking through the different articles with methodical precision. She briefly wondered what was what the Queen was searching with such fervor but decided to not ask that; she knew the Queen only came to her bar -secluded, away from the bigger, most expensive bars from the richest part of the city- whenever she was in a foul mood. That much she had learnt over the four years she had been serving her drinks; sometimes the telling stains of blood fresh enough for her to wonder if the woman had even taken a minute or two at all to recover before entering into her bar. A question she hadn’t dared to ask. As far as she was concerned whatever the Queen found in her bar wasn’t up to discussion or questioning. Which was another reason why she hadn’t and would never, call people the Daily Mirror to rely that information. Shaking herself from the thoughts her mind seemed to want to drag her in, she licked her lips before pointing towards the Swan and her smirk. “It’s from her.”

It occurred to her, rather late, that the Swan wasn’t wearing her signature black leather ensemble, nor the Queen was downing some of the clothes she herself wore. This, whatever it was, wasn’t done after a fight. An idea that sizzled on her mind the moment the Queen arched a brow and turned, her whole body tensing up as the Swan nodded on her direction, rising her glass in a salute motion that wasn’t, Ruby thought, not as full of mischief as she had previously considered it would be.

_“You.”_

The Queen’s voice was still low but full of wonder as she, picking the cider and abandoning the stool she had been seated at in one fluid motion, approached the blonde villain with nothing but something far too close to relief shinning on her features. And that was when Ruby remembered that today there hadn’t been any sightings of any of them, the only rumor floating through the gravepine regarding some fight on the docks that had left behind some scarred patches of pavement in the magical signature that were known to be both the Swan and the Queen herself.

Feeling brave but still worried some of the patrons would add two and two together in the same fashion she had done, Ruby walked alongside the counter, with one hand pressed against it, as she tried to hear the conversation that had already started the moment the Queen reached the Swan, her face turned away from Ruby but her back tensed enough for the bartender to know she was nervous. A trait that was rarely linked to the brunette superhero.

“You.” She heard repeated again, not less wonder-filled and more relief-laced with. “I thought…”

“That Gold has done any permanent damage?” The Swan’s voice was soft yet full of mirth, the cocky smirk that had made several gay girls swoon -Ruby included- lifting her lips upwards. “Please, Re… You know I’m not that easy to kill.”

Ruby didn’t hear the Queen’s reply, but her brows arched nonetheless; did the villain know the Queen’s true name? It had seemed that way.

Despite none of them downing masks the magic that they used proved to be excellent at glamouring their faces whenever that was necessary; no one had even come close to discover neither of them and yet the Swan had seemed to be about to spill a name instead of the Queen’s epithet. Which, she thought before blindly picking a glass, trying to return to what she had doing before while still trying to follow the two women conversation, was more than weird.

“…disappeared; you could have at least called, or something. I was already reading the news; seeing if you had left a clue to go by.”

So that was what the Queen had been doing. Ruby really needed to start reading the local newspaper. Even if that meant to subject herself to the awful lines written by one Sidney Glass.

The Swan was shrugging, almost meekly now and the bartender needed to bite her bottom lip, prevent herself from laughing a little at the childish movement; certainly not what one would expect from the always composed villain. She looked different, she thought, less villainy, more… human, she guessed. Although the fact that both magic wielders were mortals had already been discussed thoroughly.

“I wanted to wait, see if there were any other attacks.”

The Queen replied to that with what seemed to be a sigh, the sound of it not reaching Ruby but the movement of her shoulders obvious enough.

“I was worried.”

That last bit made Ruby almost drop the glass she was holding, gaping as she was quite obviously now: never, in a hundred years, would had she guessed that the Queen, the hero, the woman who had stopped the Swan time and time again could be… worried.

A thought that also seemed to leave the blonde speechless as she laughed awkwardly for a moment before she put her own drink down with a low thud, her long fingers finding The Queen’s blazer’s sleeve and playing with it, pinching the fabric.

“I’m sorry.” Ruby finally heard, and she needed to swallow thickly, worried that her expression could be caught by the blonde. Fortunately, the Swan didn’t seem all that concerned about her as her eyes were still zeroing on the Queen. “I didn’t want to worry you; the last blast took a lot of me; needed to lay low for a couple of hours.”

The Queen said nothing to that but moved her hand upwards, effectively stopping the Swan’s fidgeting and interlacing her fingers with hers in a gesture far too intimate for Ruby to even consider the possibility this was a first.

She was definitely going to need to drink something herself after this. Or tell Dorothy to not let her eat whatever concoction Robyn and Alice cooked for their usual double date the next day because if she was still hallucinating that was one hell of a trip.

“Come on.” The Queen was saying, a smile on her voice. “I will check your injuries, we both know healing magic is not your forte.”

“And yours is?” The Swan’s voice lacked any sarcastic undertone, but it still made the Queen huff a little before both of them turned towards the door. The Swan turned, eyes glinting at Ruby in a way the brunette thought the woman had at least been half-way privy to her listening to the conversation. Pointing at the counter where the money still waited for Ruby to pick up she mouthed a quick sentence before she followed the Queen outside the bar.

_“Thank you.”_

Well, Ruby thought, pocketing the change, this had been interesting. Very interesting.


End file.
